


on the evolution of a soul

by spoke



Category: WALL-E (2008)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 01:14:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1100706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoke/pseuds/spoke





	on the evolution of a soul

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



They began as a shiny little fleet, automatons performing their duty without hesitation or understanding. 

That changed, slowly, as they aged and came to resemble the wreckage in which they worked. It changed dramatically after the first repair that involved salvaged parts, the factory that made them having itself broken down long ago. The fewer of them there were left, the less they communicated, and the more eccentric the survivors became. Had they truly known anything of their makers, they might have realized they were exhibiting what those absent beings called ‘personality’.

Wall-E doesn’t know any of that. Doesn’t know how to describe what it’s like to move through piles and piles of things with nothing but curiosity as to their purpose. Can’t say ‘lonely’ even as their numbers steadily dwindle. 

Has no words for the way he learns to tell when he needs to head inside by the way the light changes.

What he does understand, through the hard-won knowledge of self-repair, is how to fix things. So when he notices that a couple of shapes fit together, he has to see why. The only way to see that is to fix the things, and once he has everything worked out? What he finds is understanding, if not the words with which to share it; he finds as many more of the rectangles as he’s able, but they don’t seem to have survived well.

It doesn’t matter. At least he has learned something, and the enjoyment of learning and understanding are a way to hold off the solitude.


End file.
